Took me 6 years to realize I was sanding my drywall wrong

I've been patching drywall in my own house for years and always wondered why the edges looked bumpy after painting. Last weekend my neighbor came over to borrow my orbital sander and saw me going back and forth like I was smoothing wood. He straight up laughed and told me to use a circular motion and step up the grit slowly. I tried it on a closet patch and the finish came out way smoother than anything I've done before. Anybody else learn basic stuff way later than they should have?

3 comments

3 Comments

ross.felix20d agoTop Commenter

You ever try going from 80 grit straight to 220? That's what I was doing for years and wondering why my patches looked like scratch city. You gotta hit it with 120 in between and feather the edges out wide, otherwise you're just polishing the high spots into oblivion.

kelly_nelson9520d ago

Man I did the exact same thing on my first truck bed repair. Bought a whole roll of 80 grit and thought I was saving time. Ended up with this mess of deep swirls that took way longer to fix than if I'd just went 80-120-220 from the start. The feathering out wide is key too - I used to keep my patches tight and they'd always show through after paint. Now I go like 3-4 inches past the repair and it blends way cleaner.

the_anthony14d ago

Man you ever think about how your sanding block or pad pressure changes as you move? I noticed I was leaning harder on the edges of the pad without realizing it, digging in little trenches on the edges of my repair. Once I started using a light touch and letting the weight of the tool do the work, the feathering got way more consistent. Also switched to a flexible sanding sponge for the final pass and that helped knock down any leftover ridges the orbital couldn't reach.